


A Letter from Brabant

by greerwatson



Category: Forever Knight
Genre: 13th Century CE, Epistolary, Gen, Historical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21940270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greerwatson/pseuds/greerwatson
Summary: A year after her marriage, Fleur writes to her big brother.
Relationships: Fleur de Brabant & Nick Knight
Comments: 12
Kudos: 9
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	A Letter from Brabant

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatwhichyousee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwhichyousee/gifts).



> Nick's younger sister Fleur appears in the flashback scenes of the second season episode, "Be My Valentine". We do not know what memories she retains of his visit to Brabant shortly after LaCroix brought him over. We do know that her knowledge of his true nature was wiped; and with it she probably lost her memory of the mutual attraction between herself and LaCroix, who had wanted to add her to his family.

It was rare, so rare, for one of her brother’s precious letters to include something approaching an actual address to which Fleur might send a reply with any hope of it being delivered. Once again, she unrolled the parchment, scraped no more than once, she was sure, its edges still quite neat and the letters fair-formed. It was written in her brother’s own hand, but much improved. As aide to his new lord, his duties must include those of scribe as well as squire. He would be his lord's bodyguard, secretary, and valet. She recalled that one, dear time that Monsigneur de la Croix had come to the home where she and Nicolas had been raised. She and Maman had feared for so long that her brother, as well as Papa, were dead; and it had been joy indeed to find their brave crusader returned from the Holy Land. It were only a pity that the stay had been so short. But then, a knight goes with his lord; and Monsigneur de la Croix and his ward … daughter? (For a moment Fleur hesitated. Memory failed her now and then when she tried to recall the details of that brief and precious visit.) At least she recalled the name: Janette. Where Lord de la Croix held his lands was another uncertainty. He travelled far and often, that much was clear. And, of course, Nicolas, who served him, would travel with him just as far and just as often, though it mean he see his old home never.

Fleur turned her attention back to the page in her hand. When it had been written, Nicolas had been in Paris. Furthermore, from his words, their entourage had but recently arrived. He did not describe their _hôtel_ ; but, in imagination, Fleur saw a large hall with a daïs for feasts, a solar for privacy, and an inner bedchamber for the lord. There would, of course, be servants. And Nicolas wrote that De la Croix was interested in Court, as a man of his rank would be.

The date was scarcely three weeks past. This had come swiftly—the more so since it had been sent first to Maman, who had forwarded it enclosed within a lengthy correspondence of her own. But three weeks! Fleur’s heart rose again. If she wrote now and sent her reply by the merchant leaving tomorrow, she knew that the fellow was headed west. The route to Paris lay _via_ Gent, Bruges, and Arras. Her letter might pass through several hands. Still, if she paid well (and promised more from her brother when it arrived), it should reach Paris in no more than a month, or six weeks at the most. Surely, Nicholas and his lord would still be in the city? Surely, this time, her letter would reach him before they moved on yet again?

She dipped her goosequill pen in the little pot of ink. _“To my most honoured brother, Nicolas,”_ she wrote, _“noble Crusader, now returned safe by the Grace of God, greetings from his younger sister Fleur.”_

> Your letter from Paris reached me safely. I hear from you seldom, but know you must be kept far too busy by the Lord de la Croix to take the time to write. I would that you visit us again, but know that your movements are directed by his. No doubt, when the French king’s Court moves, he will travel with it; so I can but hope that this letter comes to your hand, for I know that others which I have sent you in the past must have gone astray. By God’s mercy, our Mother is well, as I know from her last letter to me, with which she enclosed your own, for I no longer live there, which is how I know you must not have received my last letter to you.
> 
> My news I repeat, therefore. Rejoice with me, brother, for I am wed. And well wed, too, as our elder half-brother decided in his mercy to take an interest in my future, our father being dead and yourself absent. My Lord here on earth holds lands further to the east in Brabant, a little to the north of Hertogenbosch. We were wed last May in Tilburg; and our Brother condescended to attend, to our great honour. I am now lady of a fine estate, with servants to order and keys at my belt. I thank God daily that Maman taught me well how to govern a household, for had she not done so then I would be quite terrified at all my responsibilities.
> 
> Should there be any chance of your own Lord’s journeys taking him in this direction, then I should most dearly like to see you again. Before the spring, if that is at all possible, for I am with child, and expect to be brought to bed some time in June. My old nurse assures me that it will be a boy, at which I rejoice. My Lord’s mama, who has her own apartments in the castle, says that none may tell until the birth, which casts me down most cruelly. I dearly hope, of course, that the babe should prove a son and heir for my Lord, so that I may thus show him my gratitude for the honour that he has bestowed upon me by taking me to wife. If it should be male, then the child will be named André, which is a common christening name in the Family.
> 
> There is much more that I could tell you; and, if we were in regular correspondence, I do not doubt that the minutiae of my life would be of interest to you just as I should like to know all the details of your days in Paris. However, you have never visited me here; and so the people and events of my new life must necessarily mean naught to you. As for the routine of the household, it has its petty troubles and triumphs, but runs in much the manner of any other, I dare say. You will be familiar with the gist of how it goes. Do please write and tell me the details of your own days, and some description of Paris and the King’s Court, for I have never seen either, and should find it all most Interesting.
> 
> Some day, perhaps, your service with Monsigneur de la Croix may lead to a fief of your own, however small; and then, if it so please God to set such success upon you, you will know fully how my life runs today. May I live long enough to see you with a house and lands and family of your own, my dear and noble brother.
> 
> May the Lord’s hand be over you and grant his protection and blessing upon all your enterprise. In the hope of seeing you soon, I am—

_“—your dearest sister Fleur.”_ She signed her new full name, large upon the bottom of the page, finishing all off with a fine flourish. Then she sprinkled sand over the parchment to sop the excess ink, gently tapped it off, and—giving a few moments for all to dry—called for the seneschal. Scrolling her letter and sealing it with wax, she handed it off to him to be sent as soon as may be.

If Nicolas be still in Paris, she thought as he left; if not, then should his Lord still be travelling with the Court. If the letter only come to her brother’s hand, and he be granted leave to visit. Or if the Lord de la Croix should come to Brabant himself to visit such lands as he might have in the country.

Then, _if_ , she might see her brother again. And that would be so very good indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> In the event, Fleur had a son, who was indeed named André. She survived the birth by several years, though he was still just a young lad when, as we learn in the flashback to "Fallen Idol", Nick became his guardian for a while.


End file.
